The invention relates generally to cooking vessels and more particularly to inserts for cooking vessels.
Cooking techniques are ancient and require little exposition here other than: heat, provided by a flame or other heating element, is directed to a vessel, most typically made of metal, whereby the heat transmitted from the heat source is conducted through the metal to the food. It is necessary that the item being cooked contain some moisture in order to avoid burning. Food items not containing sufficient moisture are generally boiled in water or placed in the vessel with another food item having a greater moisture content (e.g., sauces, pastes, soups, fats, etc.). Some of the disadvantages of cooking food in water are that the food items lose flavor to the water, vitamins contained within the food items leach out into the water and when subjected to lengthy cook times, vitamins contained within the food items are subject to thermal degradation, and spices placed in contact with food items are washed from desired placement. Alternatively, foods cooked with other foods blend their flavors, which may not be desired.
To avoid some of these problems, steam is sometimes utilized. The usual methods of cooking with steam are through use of a double-boiler or a steamer insert of bamboo or metal. Disadvantages exist in both types of these steam-utilizing inserts. In the case of a metal double boiler, the high-heat capacity of water is under-utilized because the steam interacts with the inner vessel only and not with the food. In the case of a bamboo steamer, convective currents of a closed system are not utilized.
Moreover, in both cases, the vessel adjacent to the heat source is used exclusively as a water reservoir/steam generator.
A first attempt at the creation of a coincident multi-task cooking vessel capable for use as a full-service steamer, was made by Dzibinski in U.S. Pat. No. 5,511,466. The ""466 Patent discloses a wok-like cooking utensil which includes an integrated cooking trough about the upper perimeter of the cooking utensil. The ""466 Patent has certain drawbacks. First, when the lid is removed, for instance to stir-fry items in the bottom of the cooking utensil, the heat within the cooking trough is rapidly lost and not replaced while the lid is off. Second, even with the lid on, the design does not make use of the heat that could be generated from below the cooking trough. Third, the cooking utensil of the ""466 Patent is of unitary construction and does not allow for conversion to a conventional wok, nor does it allow for retrofitting of existing woks and pots. Fourth, the cooking trough will retain as liquid, any steam which has condensed on the lid thereby allowing the food items to sit in the condensation.
A removable cooking trough for use in a cooking vessel which would facilitate cooking several food items at the same time without co-mingling and while using the high-heat capacity of steam, would be an important improvement in the art.
It is an object of the invention to provide a cooking device that overcomes some of the shortcomings of the prior art.
Another object of the invention is to provide a cooking device that takes advantage of the constant temperature properties of steam to evenly cook food.
It is another object of the invention to take advantage of natural convection patterns within a covered wok to direct heat to an insert ring in a cooking device.
It is still another object of the invention to provide a cooking device that allows a person to cook two different food items in the same vessel without mixing the items within the vessel.
Another object of the invention is to cook food items within a vessel, exposing the food item to aromatic spicing sources without allowing physical contact between the food item and the spicing source.
It is yet another object of the invention to take advantage of pressurizing a cooking vessel to reduce the cooking time of food items.
Another object of the invention is to retrofit existing pots and woks with an insert that takes advantage of trough and covered-trough cooking.
Another object of the invention is to utilize steam for the cooking of items in one part of a vessel while allowing access with utensils to another part of the vessel where other items are being cooked at the same time.
How these and other objects are accomplished will become apparent from the following descriptions and from the drawings.
The invention involves an improved cooking system of the type having a cooking vessel with a watertight lower portion having a concave interior, and side walls extending generally upwardly from the bottom. The cooking vessel may have bottom which is flat, like a pot or rounded, like a traditional wok. The improvement is an annular, substantially hemi-toroidal insert. By xe2x80x9cannular, . . . hemi-toroidalxe2x80x9d, the applicant is describing a shape which resembles a tube wrapped into a donut shape and then cut horizontally to create a ring-shaped trough. By the use of the adverb xe2x80x9csubstantiallyxe2x80x9d, the applicant is not limiting the cross-sectional shape to a semi-circle, but rather the trough can be of any cross-section, including the circle""s antithesis, a square. The insert is dimensioned to engage the inner surface of the side walls or a lip near the top of the sidewall thereby removably supporting the insert within the cooking vessel remote from the bottom. The insert has a central opening (i.e., the xe2x80x9chole of the donutxe2x80x9d) above the bottom of the cooking vessel, whereby the bottom of the cooking vessel may be accessed. In this way, utensils may be employed to manipulate the food cooking in the bottom of the pot or wok, ingredients may be added to the food cooking in the bottom of the pot or wok, liquid may be added to the bottom of the pot or wok, etc.
In one embodiment of the invention, the cooking trough includes a plurality of apertures which allow steam to contact the food items in the cooking trough from below and further allow liquid accumulating in the cooking trough to escape to the bottom of the cooking vessel. This embodiment is further improved by an annular, substantially hemi-toroidal, cover which substantially encloses the cooking trough. The insert cover is made more advantageous when the insert cover is segmented. In this way, one segment may be displaced to view or to test the contents of the insert without opening the whole trough.
In another embodiment, the cooking vessel has side walls which terminate in a upwardly-extending circular rim having an inside diameter. The cooking vessel further includes a hollow dome-like lid having inner and outer surfaces terminating in a radially extending outer rim and is removably supported by the cooking vessel sidewalls. In another aspect of this embodiment, the outside diameter of the lid is less than the inside diameter of the vessel rim such that the dome-like lid is removably supported by the cooking vessel sidewalls in a position entirely enclosing the insert. In yet another aspect of this invention, the lid is releasably sealed to the sidewalls; in this way, the benefits of increased pressure may be utilized, for instance to decrease cooking time.
In another preferred embodiment, the insert is a truncated annulus having an arcuate range of at least 180xc2x0 about a main axis of the annular, substantially hemi-toroidal insert. In another aspect of this embodiment, end walls located at the truncated ends of the insert substantially enclose at least the lower portion of the cooking trough, thereby preventing items placed in the insert from falling out of the ends. In yet another aspect of this embodiment, there is a truncated annular, substantially hemi-toroidal insert cover to substantially enclose the truncated cooking trough. It is yet more advantageous in this aspect for the truncated insert cover to be segmented.
In another embodiment of the invention, the cooking vessel has bowl-like side walls such that it has horizontal, circular cross-sections. Each of the circular cross-sections has a common side-wall axis. The insert has a main axis which is coaxial with the side-wall axis.
In another embodiment of the invention, a substantially perforated partition is removably secured with respect to the insert across the central opening thereof. It is desirable for the partition to be a horizontal, screen cooking surface. It is another desirable embodiment for the partition to be an upwardly opening, downwardly extending, concave mesh basket.
It is another aspect of this invention to provide a insert for vertical insertion into a cooking vessel having a bottom and side walls extending upwardly therefrom. The cooking vessel side walls have an upper portion having an interior surface of a specific shape. The insert has an annular trough member extending circumjacent along the inner surface of the side walls. The trough member has a generally convex lower surface with a sidewall-adjacent portion of the lower surface complementary in shape to the inner surface of the sidewalls. The trough member has an upwardly-opening, concave upper surface. There is also at least one support member secured with respect to the trough member and in engageable contact with the side walls whereby the trough member is removably supported within the cooking vessel by the side walls.
In a preferred embodiment, the insert includes at least one support member engageable with the interior of the cooking vessel such that the trough member is removably supported with respect to the cooking vessel in a position remote from the bottom of the cooking vessel. In a more preferred embodiment, the insert includes at least three support members, each support member attached with respect to the convex lower surface of the trough member and each support member engageable with the interior of the cooking vessel such that the trough member is removably supported with respect to the cooking vessel in a position remote from the bottom of the cooking vessel.
In yet another embodiment of the invention, the trough member is composed of spun aluminum.